Body dips work your chest, arm, shoulder and back muscles. Your triceps and pectoral muscles work the hardest, however, your deltoids, rhomboid, levator scapulae, and latissimus dorsi assist the movement. Perform body dips on a regular dip bar by grasping the bars and straightening your arms to raise your body. Bend your elbows to about 90 degrees to lower your body, then return to the starting position. Use your body weight as resistance, or use an assisted dip bar machine that uses weights to make the exercise easier.

Triceps Brachii

Triceps brachii gives the back of your upper arm it's shape. It has three parts, called heads: long, medial and lateral heads. The long head starts at the shoulder blade, and the medial and lateral heads attach to the humerus. All three parts run down to the elbow and attach to the ulna, one of the lower arm bones. The triceps extends the elbow, or straightens your arm, and helps to stabilize the shoulder joint. You work the triceps when you raise your body up during the exercise.

Pectoral Muscles

Pectoralis major covers the front of the chest. It attaches to the collar bone and the breast bone and runs outward towards the shoulder and attaches to the humerus, or upper arm bone. Pectoralis major adducts and rotates your arm. Adduction is the anatomical term for moving a body part toward the midline of your body. You work the pectoralis major when you raise your body up during the exercise. Pectoralis minor runs from the front of the ribs back around your ribcage to your shoulder blade. It helps stabilize your shoulder blade when you move your arm.

Shoulder and Back

The anterior deltoid is the front portion of the deltoid muscle that forms the bulk of your shoulder. It helps the pectoral muscle move the upper arm. Rhomboid runs from the spinal bones in the mid-back to the medial edge of the shoulder blade. Medial means closer to the midline. Levator scapulae runs from the neck bones to the top medial part of the shoulder blade. Rhomboid and levator scapulae stabilize the shoulder blade when you move your arm. Latissimus dorsi gives your upper back a V-shape. It runs from the spinal bones of the mid-back to the upper arm bone and it adducts, rotates and extends your arm, so your work your latissimus dorsi when you lower your body during the exercise.

Expert Tips

A dip bar set to shoulder-width emphasizes the triceps. Setting the bars a wider distance apart emphasizes the pectoralis major. The American Council on Exercise recommends not bending your elbows past 90 degrees so you do not injure your shoulders.